Many merchandise displays make use of pusher elements that are positioned behind a row of product items, for the purpose of maintaining the products in an up-front position on the display shelving. This provides a neater looking display, as well as making the merchandise more conveniently accessible to the prospective customer.
Quite commonly, pusher elements are in the form of pusher sleds, guided for front to back movement on a suitable base and provided with coiled springs for constantly urging the pusher sleds in a forward direction. Such spring-driven pusher sleds can work satisfactorily when the spring is properly sized for the particular merchandise to be displayed, and the particular display is always stocked with the same merchandise or merchandise of very similar size and weight. However, if different merchandise is displayed, of a materially different weight, the spring-actuated operation of the pusher sled may be less than optimum, being unnecessarily powerful for lighter merchandise or inadequate for heavier merchandise.
Where the nature of the merchandise to be displayed can be expected to be variable, some merchandisers avoid the use of springs and instead utilize a manually operated pull strip for positioning the pusher sled. For these manually operated displays, a store clerk checks the displays periodically and, when appropriate, pulls outward on a pull strip to advance the pusher sled toward the front to reposition the merchandise. The pull strip is then returned to a normal, retracted position, where it remains until next operated by a store clerk.